


dark times

by isthiswhattheycallwriting



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Mob, F/M, Mob boss!Bucky
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-10
Updated: 2019-03-09
Packaged: 2019-11-14 18:19:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,521
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18057623
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/isthiswhattheycallwriting/pseuds/isthiswhattheycallwriting
Summary: James Barnes, also known as the Winter Soldier, has New York City in the palm of his hand.  He has everything he could ever want, whether it be cars, drugs, alcohol, girls.  No matter what it was, he got it.  He was bored.  That is, until you walked into his life and presented him with a challenge.





	dark times

James Barnes was bored.

No, bored was too easy of word.  He was apathetic, indifferent, disenchanted, and unmoved.  Overall, he was just so… weary.  Every single day was the same.  He’d wake up, wander down to the kitchen where his personal chef, Vis, would have breakfast waiting for him.  Then after he’d go upstairs, get in the shower, and by the time he was out, his housekeeper, Wanda, would have freshly pressed suits waiting for him.  From there, it was constant paperwork and discussing with his right hand, Steve, about the day’s agenda.  He’d eventually get home past midnight and collapse into his bed, only for it to start again the next day.

The day he met you started out no different.  He had just exited the elevator of his apartment complex, Steve rambling on about whispers of Hydra’s movements.  He had been so engrossed in his phone that he had failed to notice the giant box that was heading towards him until it was too late.  He was knocked back a step as the box fell and consequently, the girl carrying it.

“Shit!”

James looked up from his phone, raising his eyebrows as he watched you scrambling to pick up the clothing that had fallen out of the box.  “You should watch where you’re going.”

What really shocked him, though, was when you looked up at him, a scowl on your pretty face, and snapped, “Maybe if you weren’t so busy staring at your phone, you wouldn’t have run into me, asshole.”

Steve stepped forward.  “Do you know who you’re talking to?”

“No, I don’t.  And quite frankly, I don’t care,” you said, huffing to blow your hair out of your face.

James held up a hand to stop Steve before stepping forward, plastering a charming smile on.  It was the one that always got girls begging him to take them to bed.  He loomed over you, reaching for your hand.  “I’m James Barnes.  I live in the penthouse.”

But when he grabbed your hand, you snatched it away and smacked the offending hand.  “Did I say you could touch me?”

He shouldn’t have been so amused by you, especially considering the fact that Steve was about to have a brain aneurysm, but the look in your eyes…  It sparked something in him.  He hadn’t had someone speak back to him in a long time.  It was… refreshing, to say the least.  “Sorry, sweetheart.  I should’ve apologized for you running into me first.”  James wouldn’t typically stop to talk to a normal citizen for this long, but the eye roll you gave him in response was so, so worth it.  He watched as you picked up the box once again, grumbling, before asking, “Did you just move in?”

“Not that it’s any of your business,” you said, your voice barely audible, “But yes.”

“Do you want my help carrying up boxes?”

You turned to look at him, raising your eyebrows.  “I’m fine.  Thank you.”  It was cold and final, letting James know that you were done with the conversation.

So, he nodded and stepped to the side, watching as you went straight to the elevator.  He waited until you were inside before going to the front desk.  “Dot, who was that girl?”

The brunette looked up at him in surprise, not having expected him to have stopped by the desk or even know her name.  “Uh, wh-who, Mr. Barnes?”

“She just moved in.  H/C hair, E/C eyes.  About this high?”  James held up a hand to estimate your height.  Steve had followed him to the desk, confused by what all was happening.

Dot nodded in sudden understanding, clicking away on her computer before looking back up at him.  “That’s Y/N L/N.  She’s renting apartment 904A.”

“Any roommates?”

She looked back at her screen, biting her lip.  “One.  Wanda Maximoff.”

Steve finally spoke up beside him.  “Wanda Maximoff?  Isn’t that the housekeeper?”

Dot slowly nodded.  “She’s been living in apartment 904A for two years now.  Ms. L/N just signed onto the lease last month.”

“Thank you, Dot,” James said before heading for the door.  “Steve, do we not pay our employees enough?”

“What?”

He didn’t bother to look at the blonde as he headed for the car, where his chauffer, Happy, was already opening the door for him.  “We pay Wanda enough that she can afford the apartment, right?”

Steve cleared his throat as he got in beside him, nodding.  “Yeah, definitely.”

James went quiet, not saying anything more until the car pulled up to his headquarters.  It was disguised as a normal Fortune 500 company.  Barnes Industries had been in the family for decades, going all the way back to the 40s and the Great Depression.  They dealt in weapons manufacturing, with factories spread all over the United States.  But, it was all a front for all the drug trafficking, illegal gambling, etc.  He stepped out onto the curb, buttoning his suit jacket back up.

“Steve, I want a file with everything we can get on Y/N L/N on my desk by noon.”

The blonde looked at him in surprise, following him inside.  “Bucky, what?  Why?”

James shrugged as he hit the elevator button for the top floor of the skyscraper.  “Because I like to know who’s staying in my apartment complex.  I also wanna know if we need to give Wanda a raise.”

“And it has nothing to do with the fact that she’s pretty?”

“She’s not just pretty, Steve,” James said with a bit of a smirk as he pushed open the doors to his office that overlooked the city.  “She’s got a smart mouth on her.  It’s… refreshing.”

Steve shook his head, laughing as he watched the brunette take a seat at his desk.  “It’s refreshing to have your ass handed to you?”

“Precisely.”

He couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows.  “Bucky…”

James began to flip through the papers on his desk.  “Don’t ‘Bucky’ me.  She’s… intriguing.  It’s been a while since I’ve been intrigued, Steve.”  He gave him a pointed look.  “I want that file.  ASAP.”

It took Steve all of two hours to get an entire history on Y/N L/N.  James was in the middle of a meeting with Tony Stark when the blonde had come in and tossed a large file onto his desk.  “Everything you could ever wanna know about her is right there.”

Tony was, understandably, confused.  “Is something going on?  A new threat?”  When neither of them responded, he continued, “Is it a girl?”  James hesitated for a second, his cheeks going a soft red as he reached for the file.  “So it is a girl.  Steve, do you know who she is?”

The blonde nodded, smirking as he sat on the desk.  “He met her once, and he’s head over heels.”

“James Barnes?  Head over heels?”  Tony couldn’t help but laugh as he poured himself a glass of Scotch.  “Seems unlikely.”

James just rolled his eyes and kept going over the file.  Steve, however, seemed happy to take the piss at his extent.  “He ran into her while she was moving into his apartment building, and then proceeded to hand his ass to him on a silver platter.”

“That’s a sight I would’ve liked to see.”

“She smacked him, too.”

That brought Tony almost to tears with laughter.  “Let me get this straight.  Barnes can get any girl in the city he wants and breaks at least two hearts a day without a care in the world, but as soon as one girl doesn’t want him, he falls head over heels?”

“Precisely.”

“Damn, Barnes.  What kind of complex is that?”

“Ha.  Ha.  Very funny,” James said as he flipped a page.  So far, all he was getting was technicalities.  You were from the Midwest, but graduated from NYU with a bachelors in dramatic writing.  You had been Wanda’s roommate all four years, though her degree was in art.  After graduation, you left to go to University of Michigan to get your masters in creative writing.  Now, with your master’s degree, you were back in New York City and staying with your best friend while working on getting your writing out there.  You were the oldest of two, with a little sister that was five years younger.  Your parents were both still alive, and you had a large extended family.  You had been engaged to a Liam Hayworth for a period of time, but that was something he decided to disregard for the time being.  A normal girl, with a normal life.

And James was going to completely wreck it.

He knew that he was not the man you needed in your life.  He was dangerous and more than a little rough around the edges.  Part of the reason he didn’t let any of his little flings get close to him was because he knew what about come with it.  It took a sort of grit to handle his life style, one that he knew most people didn’t possess.

But something told him that you could handle it.  You could handle him and all that came with him.

And that excited him.

* * *

 “Y/N, I’m home!”

You looked up with a faint smile as you put down the directions to the shelving unit you were trying to build, standing up and practically running to the living room.  Throwing your arms around your best friend, you said, “I’ve missed you.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help you carry stuff up.  I had to pick up the boss’s dry cleaning and all that,” she hummed as she hugged you back.

Wanda’s hours were extremely lenient, which you were grateful for.  She started at eight in the morning and only worked until about noon, depending on all that needed to be done for the day.  When you had asked what kind of employer paid her enough to be able to afford your apartment while only working four hours a day, she had shrugged and gave a vague answer about him spending most of the day at his office.  You hadn’t questioned her too much, just grateful that you got to spend most of your time with her.

She pulled her hair out of the long braid down her back as she began to move around the kitchen, looking for something to eat.  “It wasn’t too much work getting everything up, right?”

You shrugged as you sat up on the counter.  “It was fine.  Except for this one dude.  He was an absolute asshole.”

“What happened?”  The redhead frowned as she found her pantry and fridge mostly empty.  She hadn’t been grocery shopping in almost two weeks.  “Looks like I’m ordering in.  You want anything?  I’m kind of in the mood for Chinese.”

“Veggie lo mein and fried rice sounds great,” you hummed.  She offered you a glass of water and you took it gratefully, taking a sip before continuing.  “He had his nose buried in his phone and he ran into me.  Then when I dropped everything, he just sat there and looked at me.  Didn’t even apologize.  Then, he tried grabbing my hand.”

Wanda seemed irritated, but then again, she always got upset when someone was an asshole to you.  She’d always been overprotective and had only become more so after what happened with Liam.  She also knew how you were about touch.  She was one of the few people you were comfortable having physical contact with.  “Did you get his name?” She asked with a bit of a huff.

“Yeah,” you said absentmindedly as you scrolled through your phone.  “James Barnes, or something like that.”

“What did you say?”

Looking up, you grew a little worried when you saw how she had tensed up, freezing in place as she looked at you with eyes the size of saucers.  “James Barnes?  Why?”

“Y/N,” she said slowly, her hands shaking.  “That’s my boss.”

Your eyebrows furrowed together.  “Oh, uh…  I’m sorry?  I didn’t realize.”  When she started to pace, you slid off the counter.  “I’m sure he’s not going to be angry at you, though.  He doesn’t even know that we’re friends.  And if he’s going to be angry at you for something I did, then he’s a pretty shitty person.”

Wanda whirled around, her hands on your upper arms.  “Y/N, you don’t understand.  That’s James Barnes.  The Winter Soldier.”

You were just getting more and more confused.  “Who?”

Groaning, she gripped her hair in her fingers, closing her eyes for a second before looking back at you.  “He’s a mob boss.  Actually, no.  He’s THE mob boss.  He runs New York City.”  Leaning against the counter, she began to take deep measured breaths.  “He owns this building.  He could evict us.  Hell, he could kill you.  He’s done worse to people for doing less than what you did?”

“Worse than murdering someone?”  You crossed your arms over your chest, a little defensively.  “And I didn’t do anything.  He’s the one that was a total asshole.”

“Y/N, this isn’t a joke.”

“I’m not laughing.”

She looked at you for a long moment, her teeth worrying her lower lip.  She then took a deep breath in.  “If he hasn’t done anything by now, then there’s a good chance he won’t do anything at all.”  She picked up her phone again, punching in your food order to what was probably Ubereats or Postmates.  “I guess I’ll find out tomorrow when I go in for work.”

Nodding, you began to head back to your bedroom.  “If anything happens, you can place the blame entirely on me.  I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

Wanda smiled as she sat on the floor of your bedroom, picking up the instruction manual.  During the past two hours, you had only managed to hang up a majority of your clothing in the walk-in closet.  That, in all honesty, had only taken about thirty minutes.  You had spent the past hour and a half desperately trying to figure out how to put together a shelving unit.  “Sometimes I forget how useless you are at building things,” she said as she looked at the various IKEA boxes around your room.  You also had to put together a desk, your bedframe, and your nightstand.

“Listen, not all of us can be as gifted as you when it comes to being a handywoman.”  You playfully grabbed the manual and smacked her with it, only for her to grab it back.  As she began to read over it, you couldn’t help but grin.  You hadn’t gotten to see her very often in the two years that you had spent at the University of Michigan, and while you had FaceTimed as much as possible, it wasn’t the same.  “I’ve missed you,” you said quietly, your eyes filling with tears.  As much as you had needed to get away from New York City and the disaster that had been your failed engagement, part of you wishes that you had gotten your masters from Brown or Columbia.  Going to University of Michigan had meant that you had to sacrifice seeing Wanda and the rest of your friends for almost two years straight.

She looked up at you with a faint smile, knowing exactly how you were feeling.  “I’ve missed you, too.”

As she began to put the pieces of the shelf together, you knocked your shoulder against hers.  “So how’s Vis?  Haven’t heard about him in a few days.”

You couldn’t help but laugh at the blush that was spreading over your best friend’s cheeks.  You had first started hearing about Vis about two years ago, when Wanda had first started working as a housekeeper.  You had been skeptical at first, but she insisted that it was perfect.  After all, the job came with a huge discount on the apartment you were sitting in now, and there was an extra room that she could use as her own personal art studio.  The thing that had sealed the deal was that with her hours, she could make more than enough to live off of and still have time to work on her art.  Every other job would’ve left her dead tired at the end of every day and only left her with enough time to catch a few hours of sleep before her next shift.

“He’s great,” she said softly.  “He said he wants to meet you soon, and suggested we all go out for dinner or something.”

Raising your eyebrows, you leaned back against the wall.  “Are you sure he isn’t your boyfriend yet?”

“What?  No!  I think I’d know if I had a boyfriend.”

You couldn’t help but smirk.  “You sure?  Because most guys wouldn’t want to have a formal dinner to meet a girl’s friends unless they were going steady.”

“I really hate that you use the phrase ‘going steady,’” Wanda scoffed, her eyes narrowing on the screw she was currently working on.  “Almost as much as I hate IKEA furniture.”

“Don’t hate on my IKEA furniture, I’m poor,” you said, pursing your lower lip.  “And why?  ‘Going steady’ sounds a lot classier than ‘going out.’”

“You’re such a hopeless romantic.”

“Am not.”

“Are, too.”

Shaking your head, you stood up as you heard a knock on the front door.  “That’s probably the food.”  As you walked to the front door, you called back to her, “And I am not a hopeless romantic!  If anything I’m a skep—”  The words died in your throat as you opened the door to find James Barnes standing in the doorway with your food in his hands.

“Heard you ordered Chinese,” he said with a charming smile.

You narrowed your eyes at him, crossing your arms over your chest.  “We did.”

James leaned against the doorframe.  “I saw the delivery boy in my lobby and took it upon myself to bring it to you.”

“That wasn’t necessary.”

“Y/N, what’s taking so long?  I—”  You turned around to see Wanda standing there in surprise, her mouth gaping open.  “M-Mr. Barnes.  I didn’t know you were dropping by.  I w-would’ve cleaned up the place a bit.”

James smiled a little as he glanced around the apartment, spying all the boxes that he assumed were filled with your things.  “No worries, Wanda.  I just thought I’d bring your food to you.”  He held up the take out and she seemed to deflate as relief filled her.

“Please, come in,” she said warmly, taking the take out from him and setting it on the kitchen island.

You scowled, standing there as you watched the man walk into the apartment, his eyes staying on Wanda.  “I actually wanted to check on how you were doing.”

“How I’m doing?” Wanda asked, her voice cracking a little.

“I wanted to ask if I’m paying you enough,” James explained calmly, his hands tucked into his pockets.  You took a moment to appreciate how good he looked in a suit, biting your lip.  “I pride myself on taking care of my employees, Wanda.  I like to make sure that they’re comfortable.  We’re all a family, you know.”  You looked away from James to see your roommate slowly nodding.  “So I was more than a little concerned when Dot told me that you had gotten a roommate.”

Wanda immediately shook her head.  “No, Mr. Barnes.  You pay me more than enough.  It’s more that—”

“I’m the one who can’t afford an apartment right now,” you interrupted, bringing James’s eyes to you.  “I just graduated with my masters and the only way I could afford to move back to New York City was if I moved in with Wanda.  Plus, she’s my best friend.”

James nodded, taking in everything you were saying.  “Well, we’re happy to have you.  And I sincerely hope that you enjoy living here.”  He turned to look at Wanda.  “Even though you insist that you’re getting along fine, I’m going to make sure Sam increases your wages, at least by a little.”

She immediately began to protest, raising her hands.  “Oh, that’s r-really not necessary, Mr. Barnes.”

“Wanda, please.  How many times have I asked you to call me James?”  He motioned to you, taking a step closer.  “I want to make sure both of you are comfortable here, and two people living in one apartment tends to mean more money spent on food and such.”  You couldn’t help but shiver as his icy blue eyes locked onto yours.  “Any friend of Wanda’s is a friend of mine, which means you’re family now.  And I take care of my family.”

“I don’t need to be taken care of,” you insisted a little harshly.

A smile flit across his lips, taking you aback.  “I know.”  He then nodded towards the two of you.  “I’ll leave you two alone now.  Have a good day.”

“You, too,” Wanda replied, and the two of you watched as he backed towards the door.

You did your best to ignore the way your cheeks heated when he glanced back, shooting you a soft smile.  “I’ll see you around, Y/N.”


End file.
